By Bill Roberts
BANFF – One of the more nicely grounded sessions so far at the 2022 Banff World Media Festival (BWMF) featured Ian Scott (above, right), chairperson and CEO of the CRTC, and was moderated by Monika Ille (left), CEO of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Inc. (APTN).
APTN has long been concerned that smaller broadcasters like theirs would be at risk under Bill C-11 because they do not possess the market clout to negotiate with online, streaming distributors without CRTC help.
So, it was a nice piece of meaningful and enlightened programming to have the accomplished and trilingual Ille in…
Continue Reading
THOSE WHO ARE CLOSELY following the approval process of the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications will know the outside date for closing the transaction was extended from March 15, 2022, to June 13, 2022, and was extended again last month to July 31, 2022.
So, we are already looking in the rear-view mirror at one (soon to be two) outside closing dates.
What is going on? A lot.
Competition Tribunal
Last month, the Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell filed an application to the Competition Tribunal seeking to block the merger. He also filed an application seeking…
Continue Reading
By Len St-Aubin
IN HIS RESPONSE to my critique of his article on regulating user-generated content under Bill C-11, Howard Law included a link to an opinion piece I wrote a year ago for Cartt.ca about Bill C-10, the predecessor to C-11.
(Note: You can read Law’s original commentary here, St-Aubin’s response here, and Law’s response to St-Aubin’s response here.)
While I appreciate that Law recommended my article to Cartt.ca readers, I want to correct a statement he made.
My article proposed an alternative approach to promoting CanCon online rather than intrusive, heavy handed and problematic regulation under the Broadcasting Act. Among other…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today it is now inviting comments from Canadians about the actions it should take to improve telecommunications services in the Far North, an area it defines as including Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, 17 communities in northern British Columbia, and Fort Fitzgerald, Alberta.
This marks the second phase of the CRTC’s consultation about the state of telecom services in northern Canada. The first phase was launched in November 2020.
“During the first phase of the consultation, residents of the Far North told us that everyone living in Canada should have affordable access to telecommunications services…
Continue Reading
Contribution of foreign streamers updated to $1B
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez took an aggressive stance in responding to Conservative members’ questions today at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, on whether platform users would be regulated under Bill C-11.
He started by saying that “platforms are in, but users are out.” This triggered arguments from Conservative Rachael Thomas who, amongst others, said platforms are fed by users and therefore by regulating the platforms, you are regulating the users.
The minister answered saying the platforms can only be captured if they stream commercial…
Continue Reading
By Howard Law
ON MAY 27 CARTT.CA published my suggested compromise on provisions in Bill C-11 impacting Canadian user-generated programming hosted by Facebook, TikTok and Google’s YouTube.
I argued a ministerial policy directive ought to direct the CRTC to regulate user-generated programming that is analogous to conventional broadcasting but exempt the remaining digital first content from regulation.
Last week Leonard St-Aubin wrote a rebuttal. Here is a summary of my take-aways from his critique:
Financing and creating CanCon should not be seen as a burden to broadcasters, but incumbent Canadian media companies treat it this way by electing to spend…
Continue Reading
By Konrad von Finckenstein
THE ONLINE NEWS ACT, recently introduced by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is explained on Canadian Heritage’s website as follows: “Digital platforms have come to play an integral role in Canada’s news ecosystem, shifting the way Canadians access news content that is vital to democracy. They can play an important role in supporting the production of trusted news and information.”
The basic underlying rationale is clear. Canadian news businesses, primarily newspapers, have been severely disrupted by the Internet. Their advertising market and classified ad market has gone online and newspapers’ financial viability is in great danger.
Online platforms do…
Continue Reading
By Len St-Aubin
ON MAY 27, Cartt.ca published Howard Law’s “wish list” for a policy direction to the CRTC on regulating user generated content (UGC) under Bill C-11. The article demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of online social media. As well, it contains an unintended insult to Canadian content (CanCon) that highlights why broadcasting regulation is the wrong way to support CanCon online. My reply starts with the latter.
Law writes that the bill’s critics are now “grudgingly” conceding that large American streamers like Netflix should be covered by the bill “so they can begin carrying their fair share of the…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez has always emphatically said no, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, does not capture individual creators or user-generated content (UGC).
He said this when he first introduced the bill, and he did so again earlier this week during question period. “Platforms are in, and users are out,” he said.
Section 2.1 does specify that a person using a social media service to upload content online to be viewed by other users of the service does not carry on a broadcasting undertaking for the purpose of the act, unless they are “the provider…
Continue Reading
By Etan Vlessing
TORONTO – For the CBC, original Canadian scripted and unscripted series are not new revenue streams – they are a core business.
That is what emerged earlier today as the pubcaster held its virtual 2022-23 upfront presentation and looked, as in past years, to stand out in a hyper-competitive TV landscape where foot-loose viewers and marketers are pivoting to the streaming space.
The CBC is betting two words stood out from its pitch to domestic advertisers and will be heard far less often from its market competitors during this year’s upfront presentations: Canadian and diverse.
Barb Williams, executive vice-president of…
Continue Reading
